Just between you and me
by sulphurage
Summary: A series of dialogues between couples in Bleach before The Final Battle... an assumed one, based on current manga scenarios
1. Chapter 1

**Sweet, nothing. **

* * *

"Sacrifice is necessary. Remember, there is a price for everything. The question is whether or not you're willing to pay." 

Dark gold eyes lit up with amusement at those words, and the lithe woman stretched out on the tatami, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Today is the day you cease to amaze me, Urahara," she said loudly, fixing her gaze on the dirty lamp overhead. "That sounded like your personal mantra."

While the full moon was fully versed in the art of hypnoticism, the blond man found himself distracted by the long, tanned legs that were on full display on the floor of his room. He leant back against the windowpane, taking one more whiff from his pipe.

"You know it's the truth, princess," he replied smoothly, gaze shifting under the shadow of his striped hat.

A sigh escaped her lips, and the head of the Shiouin clan felt anxiety rise up within her, and instantly tried to calm herself down. The stage was set for the final battle, and while she was ready with a plan and a back-up, Yoruichi couldn't help worrying about the possibility of losing, or in the unlikelihood that Ichigo and the others should fail.

She turned over on the tatami and ended up face to face with Urahara. Without his hat Yoruichi took her time in admiring his eyes, which didn't look quite so sleepy now. He trailed his fingers across her cheek, a smile dancing on his face.

"Worry will get you nowhere," he said softly. "Trust Ichigo, trust the Gotei."

"It's you –" She froze, regretting that she so readily admitted that she didn't give a damn about this world, or the next.

Raising his eyebrows, Urahara broke into a wide grin as he leaned in, close enough for a kiss.

"Trust me."

This time, he closed the gap between them completely.


	2. Chapter 2

**The more things change...**

* * *

His large eyes narrowed as he watched her sleeping figure. He had stood over her bed for the last half hour, listening to the snow outside fall. The gentlest stroke of wind entered the room, sending a few strands of her hair across her face. He resisted the urge to sweep it aside. Heart-shaped face tightening into a characteristic frown, Toshiro Hitsugaya turned away. 

There was so much he wanted to say. It was boiling up within him for much too long. He was a man of few words, but the only words he truly meant to say were the most difficult to get out.

There was a murmur behind him, but it was too soft to decipher.

Hitsugaya froze, because there were things he wished to hear. He took a few tentative steps back.

Her pale face, the color of lily petals, struck him with a pain he could not guard against. Both their hourglasses were running close to empty, if he didn't say it now –

This time her moan was a little louder.

"_Aizen-sama…"_

The glass broke now, into a million shards of pure ice crystals that would draw the greatest amount of blood.

He left the room now, feeling colder than ever.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Wait **

* * *

_She'd always had a thing for silver._

_A finger trailed along the bare skin of her neck, sliding south…_

She stopped breathing.

Jerking up, Matsumoto Rangiku's leaf-green eyes flew open. _Damn_. Couldn't she just sleep past the night of her birthday? After knocking down countless rounds of sake with the other vice-captains, dragging herself to bed was the only way to celebrate wrinkles and sagginess. She groped her chest experimentally before sighing.

A sudden gust of wind sent an odd chill through the darkened room. Instinctively her fingers found Haineko's hilt and tightened around it. Her other hand reached for the necklace around her neck but only snatched air. It was gone.

Gritting her teeth, Rangiku swallowed hard.

"Gin?" she asked, staring into the shadows at the far corner of her room.

The man with a grin that slit his face in half walked out, as if on command. Light glinted off his teeth, hair and his white coat seemed to glitter under the moonlight. From the tip of his middle finger dangled her old necklace.

"I think this would look better than my first birthday gift to you," he said, producing another silver necklace. They both watched as light glinted off the diamond pendant. "Maybe I should have brought some pyjamas with me today as well?"

She pulled her blanket up, glaring at him with a harsh frown.

Gin glanced at the sword on her bed. "Are you going to cut me down with that?"

Her eyes blazed with a volatile green flame. "I will if I have to."

"Really?" he murmured, placing a knee on her mattress. Instantly the tip of her blade was at his throat.

"Draw your sword," she said.

The necklace entwined around his fingers didn't move.

"Draw your zanpakuto!" she repeated, this time in a louder voice.

That smile appeared, again. "I didn't bring it."

Her knuckles were turning ivory white.

"If you kill me now, fewer shinigami will die." He leaned into her sword's tip, and a triangle of blood appeared near his Adam's apple.

Why was she crying now?

_Why am I being so weak? _

"Why are you doing this?" The hot tears were pouring down now.

"You placed your sword here. Which means, you see me as an enemy while I came here as a friend bearing birthday wishes. Clearly, these two approaches are mutually exclusive. Rangiku, you need to pick one."

"It's not my birthday!"

In the silence, the truth bore a crystalline transparency. She knew the reason now. The blade and blanket fell soundlessly onto the sheets. Now they were eye to eye.

Her face was contorted in a frown of concentration. "After tonight, I'll see you on the battle field. Wherever you are, I will hunt you down."

"I'll be waiting," he replied.

Rangiku glanced out of the window at the full moon.

"Now," she said, squaring her shoulders. "Put it on for me."

The heat within only made his hands feel colder. But she no longer wanted the night to end.


End file.
